Singapore’s ruling party set to return to power

Three People’s Action Party (PAP) candidates have been declared winners and a sample count of <g data-gr-id="28">the all</g> votes indicated that seven of the eight opposition parties are unlikely to win a seat in Parliament, the Channel News Asia reported.

PAP candidates Cheryl Chan, Grace Fu and Lam Pin Min have won their respective seat from Fenghan, Yuhua and Sengkang West constituencies.

“The sample count results have been really encouraging across the island, but we don?t want to take them for granted, just as we should never take our residents for granted,” PAP candidate Tan Chuan-Jin was quoted as saying. Opposition leaders have acknowledged the sample count results, saying there seems to a bigger swing towards the PAP, which has ruled Singapore for 50 years since independence.

More than 2 million Singaporeans voted on Friday in one of the biggest general election contest. Opposition politicians have <g data-gr-id="32">challenge</g> the government on issues related to migrants, cost of living, low wages, foreign workers competing for jobs, the stressed transportation system and the age limit on retirees to withdraw Central Provident Fund, <g data-gr-id="33">a compulsory savings</g> from salaries. Politics in the city-state since its independence in 1965 has been dominated by the ruling PAP founded by Lee Kuan Yew, father of Lee, and it has won every election.

The PAP’s biggest competition in the election to the 89-seat parliament is the Workers’ Party, which in the last parliament had seven MPs. The opposition is made up of Workers’ Party, National Solidarity Party, Singapore Democratic Party, Reform Party, Singaporeans First, Singapore People’s Party, Singapore Democratic Alliance and People’s Power Party. In previous elections, the PAP has retained some of its seats without a vote -- known as a walkover -- as no opposition candidate ran against them. But this year every seat in the compulsory election is being contested. It is the first election since the death of long-term leader Lee Kuan, the PAP founder.

PAP’s success has been attributed to its widespread popularity among Singaporeans –who have seen their country rapidly evolve into a first-world economy –as well as its tight political control.